Sir Beelzebub
Edith-sitwell
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Sir Beelzebub by Edith Sitwell
Performed by
Edith-sitwellAbout
The conclusion to her collection Facade, here Sitwell paints a comical picture of the devil waiting for a dessert. Sitwell called the poems in Facade primarily experiments in patterns and rhythms of sounds.
Sir Beelzebub Annotated
When
Sir
Beelzebub called for his syllabub in the hotel in Hell
Where Proserpine first fell,
Blue as the gendermarie were the waves of the sea,
(Rocking and shocking the barmaid).
Nobody comes to give him his rum but the
Rim of the sky hippopotamaus-glum
Enhances the chances to bless with a benison
Alfred Lord Tennyson crossing the bar laid
With cold vegetation from pale deputations
Of temperance workers (all signed In Memoriam)
Hoping with glory to trip up the Laureate's feet,
(Moving in classical metres)...
Like Balaclava, the lava came down from the
Roof, and the sea's blue wooden gendermarie
Took them in charge while Beelzebub roared for his rum.
...None of them come!